I have a certain palate of colors that I like to use that I refer to as my "resident evil colors" consisting of yellows, browns, off-whites, reds and blacks. Sort of a sherwin williams swatch collection for a haunted insane asylum, if you will. I want to have a continuation of the Corridor series that would have a limited palate, but was more controlled.
To start, I obtained some pine panels from the Home Depot (this is not an endorsement; it's the only game in town and they treat artist like shit there because they wish we where contractors instead) on the basis of the tone. I had for some time wanted to take a whack at the gimmick of incorporating portions of the exposed wood surface as an element in the painting. An earlier, separate attempt at this was an unmitigated disaster that looked terrible, but I was able to use my experience with that as an example of something I should do the opposite of for this painting. Instead of having the wood be an inert background element, I decided to use it as a variation of my established two-tone underpainting style, using the wood instead of white.
I hadn't really though too far into the future when I began my painting like this, it was just a place to start. the fact that the color of the wood turned out to be an absolutely ideal foundation for the skin tone I was after was a huge bonus*.I added the hands in on a whim, even thought I can't render them especially well. In retrospect, I think I had a subconscious need to try something in which I had past failure to try to prove something. The drawing pass looked good, but at this point I was somewhat despairing. They look ok in this picture, but irl very buldgey and sausagey. I liked the idea of the red hands, but I don't like the painting of the idea much at this point.
I'm really trying to push the idea of the self as architecture here. I feel like my own sense of that idea is still very cloudy and abstract, I am and in love with the concept none the less. This is one of the reasons the late Zdzislaw Beksinski has become a large influence on me. I sense that he was addressing similar concept as those which interest me, but using a unique vocabulary. The idea of architecture and figure existing in the same space appeal to me, but where he integrates, I try to instill a sense of invasion and conflict, versions of one thing in conflict with itself.
This is a few passes later at the stage the painting is at now. For once, forcing myself to do something I dun wanna do actually yields results. On the theory that the underdrawing was essentially sound and therefore usable, I just kept tweaking and tweaking surface tones. I sometimes believe that only by having many layers of failures will you have a good tonal foundation for success. I think this is the third approach I tried on top of two that did not work.Some portions are getting tighter and tighter while others, sadly, languish in neglect.
A detail of the hands. The next step, I think, will be to wash a light, low saturation skin tone over the light side of the hand to give the veins a sense of being beneath the skin instead of sitting on top.
The face. A little tighter, a little more profuse and detailed. Its relationship to Study for Corridor II is more apparent. I still haven't settled on a background concept. This painting has been very much plan-as-you-go. I started with a general concept and now I'm just making shit up as I go along. I haven't decided what to put in the hands yet either.*hehehe, huge. hehehe, bonus.
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